First realization of the kind of ship we were on was when doing the onboard safety drillmy husband said, look around all I saw was a sea of grey hair! WHAAAAT??! Oh noooo, I thought, my kids are gonna hate this!

We did our usual first day, scope out the ship routine, we like to get familiar quick with the ship, (I never get this down, always lost onboard) No kids arcade, space was converted into wheelchair storage!

The trip over is quite rocky, seasickness abound... I got queezy (just stayed focused, worked out, the stair-master was interesting!) Elevators swaying... Happy to say I didn't hurl, nor did any of my family, but there were lots of people who did! Storys we later heard were of the ship doctor making cabin calls, shots for seasickness, green apples given out.

*Tip: Green apples help to alleeveate seasickness, who knew!

The captain announcing "the Beautiful Staatendam" in his Norwegian accent. Just lovely. :)

First introduced to eat as you want style dining (enjoyed the best steak)

Christmas gifts for the kids, Santa (canadian crew) Disco fun, gifts for kids. Better than a boring arcade!Bingo, puzzles (crazy french canadian puzzle lady)Art work

Met friends from the city next to us, the Kramer family.

Kids cabin was freezing inside... found out why, they had set their thermostat to cold so that their chocolate towers wouldn't melt!!! Their rooms smelled interesting to say the least. They had the baked goods from the displays as well, our children tend to make friends with the crew really fast on cruises and end up with interesting benefits.

cruising was smooth on the way back.

Maui, HI

Being Christmas the town was shut down.

Kauai, HI

Rented a car... drove the island

Oahu, HI

Tram to Waikiki beach, family learned to surf.

*Tip: Bird men holding parrots will charge for that photo!

In the evening we made our way with ship friends to an Elvis impersonator show with hula dancers. Check that off my bucket list!

Kona

We rented a red mustang convertible to tour the island. Being a travel agent I wanted to check out the Hilton Waikaloa (hoping to get to stay there soon, I had earned enough Hilton Honors points to stay there free for a week!) They have their own monorail running through the property, and a lagoon with fish and sea life. We toured the property and actually plopped ourselves down with the hotel guests. Cruise ship towels and our own floats in hand, we really enjoyed ourselves.

Molakai

We were supposed to be the 1st ship ever to do Molakai... but do to the water the tenders couldn't go with the elderly... and the island people were STRIKING our arrival!

REVIEW

ENJOYED this cruise more than any other!!! Kids had a blast. The Canadian crew were outstanding...